Such a method for cultivating plants is known from for instance WO2010/093248 by the present applicant. This publication describes a method for the floating cultivation of plants, wherein the growth medium is kept at a vertical distance from the water surface at all times, to prevent rotting of the roots and in general to allow the plant to develop a strong root system, in particular comprising air roots. The content of the above patent publication is hereby incorporated by reference in the present patent application.
However, the inventors have realized that after the plant has grown considerably in the growth medium, it becomes increasingly hard to grip the growth medium with the plant from below or from above: when gripping the grown plant from above the leaves of the crop may be damaged, whereas, when gripping the plant from below the root system may become damaged. Especially when using automated gripping means to grip the growth media, for instance to increase plant spacing, plant or root damage is a common occurrence. Use of specialized plant pots, wrapping papers and the like in practice proves to be too costly to solve this problem effectively.
It is an object of the present invention to optimize the prior-art method by allowing gripping of the growth medium without damaging the leaves or the roots of the crop.
This object is achieved by the method as described by claim 1.